OpenAI has begun displaying advertisements inside ChatGPT conversations for users in Pakistan. The rollout on October 21 added 26 new countries, bringing the total to 89 markets worldwide, meaning every Pakistani on the free tier will now see sponsored messages between replies.
The company says the ad rollout targets its 1.2 billion weekly active users, but only those on the Free and Go plans will encounter ads; Plus, Pro and Enterprise subscribers remain ad-free. OpenAI also assures that ads will never influence the content of ChatGPT's answers.
Since we launched ads just over eight months ago, over 100,000 advertisers have run campaigns on ChatGPT. Today, we're expanding ChatGPT Ads to 26 additional countries, extending availability to 89 countries worldwide. This launch builds on our recent expansions across Europe and Southeast Asia and Taiwan.
Pakistan joins a group that also includes 14 Latin American nations such as Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru, as well as Nigeria, South Africa, Serbia, Ukraine, Cambodia and Bangladesh.
The speed of the expansion is notable. OpenAI introduced its first ads in February, eight months earlier. By March the ad business was generating roughly $100 million per year; by August that figure had risen tenfold to $1 billion. More than 100,000 advertisers have now bought campaigns, and OpenAI aims for $2.5 billion in revenue before year-end.
Early results illustrate the appeal. One online retailer said it earned three times its spend on ChatGPT ads within 28 days, while a tech firm reported that over 80 % of its ChatGPT traffic came from brand-new customers. Advertiser numbers grew from about 20,000 in late August to over 100,000 by October.
In contrast, rival Anthropic has vowed to keep its Claude chatbot ad-free forever and even ran a Super Bowl ad mocking OpenAI's decision.
ChatGPT's share of consumer product searches has risen from 2 % to 30 % over the past two years, turning the bot into a channel brands cannot ignore. OpenAI is building this ad platform ahead of a reported stock market listing slated for 2027, with the firm currently valued at $852 billion.
Advertisers can buy ChatGPT ads through major agency partners or directly via OpenAI's self-service Ads Manager, which supports impression-based and click-based pricing. OpenAI suggests a starting bid of $3 to $5 per click, and several of the world's largest agencies already run campaigns.
For businesses in Pakistan, the move opens a direct route to reach over a billion weekly users on a single platform. OpenAI also plans to broaden its ad toolkit, having added ads to image generation in early October and begun testing "Sponsored Agents" in September, where tapping an ad launches a branded AI conversation instead of a web page.
